


CollectiveStuck What-If

by LawrenceFriday



Series: CollectiveStuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Session, Humanstuck, Original Character(s), Other, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 06:57:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LawrenceFriday/pseuds/LawrenceFriday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate timeline for CollectiveStuck, available at http://archiveofourown.org/works/3592641/</p>
            </blockquote>





	CollectiveStuck What-If

How did this all go so wrong?

The scratch did exactly what your guardian angel said it would. Your godhood protected you from the vast temporal power that the Atomic Cymbal unleashed, so when the universe returned to the day before the game, you alone kept all your memories. It came at an incredible cost, though – you had to… take care of Liz before you could finish.

That’s still an unpleasant memory. It wasn’t physically difficult; she never saw it coming. You took her completely by surprise, and before she could put up a fight, you had bashed her head in. She didn’t get back up. Your guardian angel said it was a Just death – she had been manipulated by the Incipisphere to try to stop you in your sworn duty. Something about that doesn’t seem right, though. It didn’t feel very just to kill someone who didn’t fight back. Still, she stayed down, so he must be right.

Once everything rolled back to square one, you took advantage of your advance knowledge to set up a better server chain. Of course that put you as Tiffany’s server, giving you plenty of alone time. Then she brought in Liz – you wanted her far down the chain. Even though she doesn’t remember a thing, you have trouble looking her in the eye. Liz brought in Stephanie, Steph brought in Greg (you wish you didn’t have to bring him, but he’s apparently important to the game), and he brought in James. That left James to be your server, which was what you wanted in the first place.

Nothing about the state of the Medium changed – everyone had the same planets and the same roles. You made sure that everyone’s parents made it in alongside them, so no one had to be put in danger on Derse. It was a simple matter to wake all of their dreamselves and get started on the rest of the game.

But your guardian angel never talked to you again.

You could really use his advice. Somehow everything spiraled out of control when you weren’t looking. Sure, you made the best of your second chance, setting the perfect romantic scenario, and Tiffany agreed to be your girlfriend. You’ve had a few nice dates, riding horses across the meadows of the Land of Salts and Sonance (which is way harder than your games made it out to be) or enjoying the sun on the Land of Tides and Trials. The two of you have developed great tans, which suits Tiff really well. Your relationship works – even if you’ve run out of conversation topics you both enjoy.

It’s too bad everything else fell apart. You tried not to be too smug when you told Greg about it, but he must have taken it really hard. No one has heard from him since, and you’re starting to get worried. Not for him, of course – he’s a douche – but for the success of your game. Space players are mandatory, and yours has vanished. You don’t know if you can substitute for him (heart doesn’t seem that important), but you’re sure that there’s nothing he could have done that you couldn’t do better.

For some weird reason, Stephanie disappeared around that time too. Liz said she slipped off into the shadows of her planet, and even the game can’t find her anymore. After two weeks without any sign of her, Liz headed to the Land of Murk and Mirrors to search. Now she’s gone too.

Without his server, James is kind of stuck. He’s been dicking around the Land of Whim and Will, trying to figure out how to build a giant robot. It would be nice if his roboticist server player would stop moping and help, but he is, as always, a douche.

TIFFANY: Steve?  
STEVE: Yeah?  
TIFFANY: You know I love hanging out with you, but don’t you think we should do something else?

You sit up on the lounge chair you alchemized and glance over at her. God, she’s gorgeous. The green bikini she had in her closet perfectly matches her eyes, and the weeks of fighting imps and riding horses have left both of you in perfect shape. Honestly, one look at her and you remember why you were willing to upend the universe.

STEVE: Oh. Do you want to go back to riding?  
TIFFANY: No, I mean, we have a quest, right?  
STEVE: Oh, that.  
TIFFANY: As much fun as lying on the beach all day is, we’re supposed to be saving the universe, right?  
STEVE: Yeah, I think so.  
TIFFANY: And we need everybody’s help for that.  
STEVE: No we don’t. As long as you and I are together, we can do anything.

She chuckles and shakes her head, beautiful blonde locks tumbling down her shoulders.

TIFFANY: Steve, we have to find the others.  
STEVE: …Okay. If that’s what you really want.

You sit up, stretching as your bare feet hit the hot sand. It doesn’t actually do anything, but you have to keep up appearances; you can’t let anyone else know about god tier. If they knew there was a way to become (conditionally) immortal, they might be able to figure out what you did. Trying to explain to Liz and Greg that you had to kill everyone so you and Tiffany could be together would be… difficult.

STEVE: Where do you want to start?  
TIFFANY: Um.  
TIFFANY: We should probably try to find Greg. He’s our Space player, so we need him.

Even now, you have to fight down a wave of jealousy when she says his name.

STEVE: Okay. To the Land of Factories and Frogs.

You quickly change out of your bathing suit into the Captain’s Accoutrements, and Tiffany dons her riding gear. It takes a few Gate hops, but you soon find yourself among the shiny machinery. None of it seems to work; there’s probably something you have to do with that giant metal volcano to turn it on, but you don’t know what.

STEVE: So, uh. We’re here. Now what?  
TIFFANY: …Um. I don’t know.  
TIFFANY: I was hoping Greg would be around somewhere.  
TIFFANY: Some of the other timelines show him just waiting for us.

The entire planet is eerily silent. Your footsteps on the steel floor sound like intrusions into a tomb. You try shouting.

STEVE: GREG!  
STEVE: ARE YOU THERE?

Your voice echoes off into the distance.

TIFFANY: I’ll try seeing if another timeline has any clues.

She closes her eyes for a moment.

TIFFANY: Umm…  
TIFFANY: That way.

Your girlfriend starts off in a seemingly random direction, and you follow after her.

STEVE: Do we really need to find him?  
STEVE: I bet we can do whatever it was he was supposed to do ourselves.  
STEVE: You’re really smart, and I know games. We can do it.

She ignores you, following an unseen trail through the pistons and electrical boxes.

After a quiet eternity, you come to the end of your search.

TIFFANY: GREG!

The body has been here a long time. It’s nothing but bone and dust. The only identifying mark is the shattered blade beside it. By the scuff marks on the otherwise spotless steel, it looks like there was a heck of a fight.

She buries her face in your shoulder, and you wrap your arms around her and kiss her forehead reassuringly.

TIFFANY: Oh, Steve…  
STEVE: I…  
STEVE: I never wanted this.  
TIFFANY: None of us did.

She just stays still in your arms, and you can’t bring yourself to stare at the corpse any longer.

TIFFANY: Steve, I’m scared.  
STEVE: I’ve got you.  
TIFFANY: …I told you about doomed timelines, right?  
STEVE: Yeah. Alternate versions of alpha us who have to fail and die.  
TIFFANY: …I think we might be in one.

You squeeze her tighter.

STEVE: No way. There’s no way that a timeline with you and me together is doomed.  
TIFFANY: Look at it!  
TIFFANY: Stephanie and Liz disappeared, and now Greg…  
TIFFANY: How long has it been since you talked to James?  
TIFFANY: We might be the only ones left!

You put your finger to her lips.

STEVE: Not a chance.  
STEVE: I got a message from him a few minutes ago.

Your iPatch pops up to display BadgerBud.

\-- bebopBelter [BB] began badgering siliconSwashbuckler [SS] \--

BB: yo  
BB: im about to try starting this shit up  
BB: wish me luck dude  
BB: ok its powering on  
BB: shitshitshit  
BB: theres fuckin fire everywhere  
BB: oh fuck  
BB: answer dammit  
BB: steve i need fuckin help  
BB: steve

\-- bebopBelter [BB] is now offline --

STEVE: …Oh fuck.

She pulls away from you, tears streaming down her face.

TIFFANY: What are we going to do?  
STEVE: Uh…

You start racking your brain. A fat lot of good all that prior knowledge is doing you now. This isn’t what was supposed to happen.

\-- siliconSwashbuckler [SS] began badgering anonymousAdvisor [AA] \--

SS: Hello?  
SS: Please, please be there.  
SS: I really need your help.

TIFFANY: Steve, we have to go.

You nod, and she leads you by the hand back to the Gate.

TIFFANY: I think there might be something we can do.  
TIFFANY: The giant cymbal on my planet-  
STEVE: No!  
STEVE: I mean, we should try finding Liz and Stephanie before we do anything drastic.  
STEVE: They might be okay.  
TIFFANY: …Okay. You’re right.

You give her a reassuring pat on the back.

STEVE: Why don’t you go ahead? I’m going to grab something from my house and then I’ll meet you there.  
TIFFANY: Okay.

She steps through the Gate to the Land of Murk and Mirrors, giving you a frightened glance before she disappears.

You pull the pendant out and give it a squeeze.

STEVE: I know you can hear me. I need help.  
STEVESPRITE: I’m here.

This time around, you decided to follow Stephanie’s lead and get a much more useful sprite. It was a simple matter of cutting your picture out of the latest yearbook, and now you have a sprite that actually helps you.

STEVE: Are we in a doomed timeline?  
STEVESPRITE: I can’t say.  
STEVE: Is that a yes?  
STEVESPRITE: I can’t say.  
STEVE: …What can we do besides the scratch?  
STEVESPRITE: There’s always The Choice.  
STEVE: What?  
STEVESPRITE: Go back to the Land of Tides and Trials and talk to your denizen. He’ll offer you two options.  
STEVE: And they’ll fix things?  
STEVESPRITE: I don’t know. The Choice is always different. But it’s the only chance you’ve got.

You nod and step through the Gate. Once you hit the sand, you change into your god suit. If you’re going to be facing the lord of the entire world, you want to be as ready as you can.

The flight to his cave is short. There aren’t many caves on this planet, and there’s only one surrounded by bones.

You steel your courage as you walk in, staff in hand. The tunnel is dark until you reach Yaldabaoth’s lair.

Roar.

STEVE: I’m here for The Choice.

Roar.

STEVE: You have to give it to me!

Roar.

STEVE: There has to be a way to fix this.

Roar.

STEVE: …Give up Tiffany?  
STEVE: No. I’m not undoing all the hard work I put into the scratch and finally convincing her to go out with me.  
STEVE: Give me another choice.

Roar.

STEVE: I don’t care if you don’t have another!  
STEVE: That’s out of the question!

Roar.

STEVE: Then I’ll beat one out of you!

Your staff twirls in your hand as you charge at the giant snake.

The walls of the cavern shake as you’re send crashing back. You can feel your ribs crack as you land. The god of all monsters is far too strong to be defeated by a mere page.

STEVE: Nnnn…

Roar.

STEVE: I’ll… just come back…

Roar.

Your vision dims as the horror washes over you.

Falling to protect five people from the greed and arrogance of one idiot is definitely a Heroic death.

And the one who killed her would be very deserving of a Just death.

You think of Tiffany one last time before your eyes close.


End file.
